Crown Moulding Uneven Ceiling

Hey Guys, A Little help if you can. I have never done this before. Watched a lot of videos. My ceiling is not perfect in a few spots, not that bad but still a little bit uneven. Is a certain moulding better for jobs like this than other moulding? Is it better to put up one piece or like I saw a few times, like a backer moulding thats flat and the angled moulding sits on top. Any help you can offer would be great. Thanks in advance for the help, I appreciate it.Also have a great holiday…..Dave

2 replies so far

A backer piece is always a good idea except for the smaller crown molding (say under 2 inches). Crown molding was designed to make the transition between uneven ceilings and walls look nice. That is the reason it is always installed at an angle to both surfaces. The more uneven your surfaces the better to use smaller and thinner crown molding. Only experience will dictate how thin or how wide. Fortunately, caulking was developed to handle most imperfections between the molding and the surfaces. The point then becomes, how much caulking is acceptable to you. Almost all people I know use caulking for dealing with the imperfections (cracks) between the crown molding and the walls and ceilings. Good lucK! Hope this helps

Crown molding is an art; at least it is when ceiling/wall surfaces are very irregular. For the standard 8’ ceiling height, I wouldn’t go much wider than 2”. Tall ceilings, 10’ and taller can look better with wider moldings. I think backer boards are the way to go. They can be sculpted a lot easier than the crown molding. Caulk will correct any gaps, as long as they are not to wide. You usually see crown moldings used in expensive custom built homes. The owners will be very critical about molding appearance. That is why I say one needs a good bit of skill to do it well. Crown molding requires much manual working to get it right. A $500 compound sliding miter saw alone will not guarantee a perfect job. It requires lots of shaping, coping and odd angles. The largest gaps will occur where the drywall panels meet. The drywall compound (mud) will keep the molding from sitting flush with the surface. I have noticed some will sand the mud down in way of the molding to remove the “hump” When the molding sits as flush as it can the less caulking will be necessary.